Climate refugees more vulnerable to human trafficking: UN report

Poor people, especially the climate refugees, living in the Sundarbans and coastal areas of the country's Khulna region are more prone to becoming victims of human trafficking, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC).

Under the "The Global Action against Trafficking in Persons and the Smuggling of Migrants – Bangladesh (GLO.ACT– Bangladesh)" project, implemented by UNODC and International Organization for Migration (IOM), the report was published in a programme on Thursday (26 January) at a Dhaka hotel.

At the event, GLO.ACT Global Coordinator Aimée Comrie (UNODC HQ in Vienna), Ministry of Home Affairs Joint Secretary Mizanur Rahman, and UNODC National Programme Coordinator Mahdy Hassan shared the methodology, key findings and policy recommendations of the report.

The victims, especially women and children, are not only trafficked into slavery but many of them are being used in illegal organ business. Besides Khulna, human trafficking cases in the Sylhet region have increased, the findings underscored.

The report, however, did not mention anything about Rohingya communities' trafficking cases.

Md Aminul Islam Khan, senior secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs, said, "The emerging effects of Covid-19 and climate change on human trafficking trends and patterns are alarming. I urge our national and international partners to prioritise strengthening capacities to identify trafficking in persons and focus on creating a victim-friendly criminal justice system."

Marco Teixeira, regional representative of the UNODC Regional Office for South Asia, reflected, "The Global Report mentions the risks linked with cyber enabled trafficking through modalities such as online recruitment and exploitation which were widely used by traffickers during the pandemic. While human traffickers are becoming more tech-savvy and are able to use technology successfully to their advantage, technology can also become an enhancing tool for the criminal justice system to detect, investigate and prosecute traffickers."

As per the major outcomes of the UNODC Global Report on Trafficking in Persons 2022, the number of convictions for trafficking offences globally fell by 27% in 2020 from the previous year – with a sharper 56% decrease registered in South Asia. In addition, the number of victims detected globally fell by 11% in 2020 from the previous year, driven by fewer detections in low- and medium-income countries.
 
"The pandemic has increased vulnerabilities to trafficking in persons, further undercutting capacities to rescue victims and bring criminals to justice," the report notes adding that fewer cases of trafficking for sexual exploitation were detected during the pandemic as public spaces were closed, and related restrictions may have pushed this form of trafficking into more concealed and less safe locations, making it harder to identify victims.  

The report shows higher levels of impunity in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Countries in these regions convict fewer traffickers and detect fewer victims than the rest of the world. At the same time, victims from these regions are identified in a wider range of destination countries than victims from other regions.